Environmental Protection Agency

WASHINGTON (AP) - Regional leaders and federal officials are getting together to talk about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

Thursday's annual meeting of the Chesapeake Executive Council, chaired by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, will include an announcement of how officials plan to meet the goals of a federal-led bay cleanup agreement that was signed last year.

The agreement establishes pollution limits in the nation's largest estuary and sets goals for the bay to be fully restored by 2025

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A U.S. appeals court has upheld a federal plan limiting pollution in the Chesapeake Bay despite objections from farmers who accuse the Environmental Protection Agency of abusing its power.

The ruling Monday upholds restrictions on farm and construction runoff and wastewater treatment and is a clear win for environmentalists.

Six states have agreed to the pollution limits: Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, along with Washington, D.C.,

Several environmental groups said they were upset that a McAuliffe administration official testified Wednesday before a U.S. House subcommittee in favor of a bill backed by electric utilities. Republican U.S. Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia is the bill's sponsor.

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) - Officials at Dover Air Force Base say chemical compounds used in firefighting foam have been found at four sites on base, but not in drinking water supply wells.

Officials said Monday that an investigation detected perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, in shallow groundwater and some surface drainage ditches in levels above Environmental Protection Agency recommended limits. They noted that the base obtains drinking water from a deep confined groundwater aquifer that is isolated from the aquifer where the contaminants were found.

ASHLAND, Va. (AP) - Federal officials are heading to Ashland to announce nearly $9 million in grants from the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

The funding being announced Tuesday for Virginia, West Virginia and other states within the bay's estuary are intended to reduce polluted nutrient and sediment runoff into the bay. The District of Columbia is also within the bay's watershed.

The grants will be announced by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The public interest group Environmental Integrity Project issued two new reports questioning how much progress has actually been made in the cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and whether "best management practices" efforts are working as well as intended. Delmarva Public Radio's Don Rush spoke with Abel Russ, an attorney with EIP.

The proposed rules released Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency call for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent over the next 15 years.

Delaware environmental secretary Collin O'Mara says the proposed rules simply echo what Delaware already has done on its own and as part of a regional greenhouse gas initiative with eight other states.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation says more friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed in support of a massive restoration of the estuary.

The leading advocate for the bay's cleanup says one amicus brief has been filed by several cities, including New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles and San Francisco. A second was filed by Florida conservation groups.

This month, Virginia's attorney general filed an amicus brief in support of the plan.

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - Virginia is defending the federal and state plan to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced Thursday the state has filed a friend-of-the court brief in support of pollution limits to restore the bay after decades of neglect. The filing is with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Farm industry groups are appealing a federal judge's decision last September to uphold the federal pollution limits.

The Environmental Protection Agency is mapping out the sediment from the old Standard Chlorine/Metachem plant near Delaware City.

The government agency is wrapping up weeks of sampling at 80 different sites near the Red Lion Creek…where toxic substances such as chlorinated benzenes, dioxins and PCB’s have been found at a depth of 24 feet and in ground water at depths of 150 feet.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Farm groups are appealing a judge's decision to uphold U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pollution limits that are designed to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Corn Growers Association said Tuesday that they are appealing the Sept. 13 decision.

Farm Bureau president Bob Stallman calls it a "wrongly decided case that has dangerous implications for farmers and many others." The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has called the ruling "a great day for clean water in the region."

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced an agreement to ensure that dairy farms, poultry growers and other farm animal operations are on track to reduce pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

The foundation said the agreement announced Wednesday is intended to ensure that the multi-state, EPA-led restoration of the Chesapeake Bay is achieved by 2025.

NEWARK, Del. (AP) - A University of Delaware-led study has found that decades-old federal standards overestimate current poultry industry contributions to water pollution.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that researchers found that nitrogen levels in poultry house manure are 55 percent lower than the Environmental Protection Agency's standards. Efforts to eliminate waterway dead zones and algal blooms nationwide have focused on pollution from manure.

BALTIMORE (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says releases of toxic air pollutants were down in 2011 in the Mid-Atlantic region.

And the federal agency says cleaner power plants are part of the reason.

The EPA says releases were down 13.8 percent in 2011 in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia compared to 2010. Nationwide, total toxic air releases dropped 8 percent from 2010.

The Virginian-Pilot says the Environmental Protection Agency notified the state late last month that it is withholding $1.2 million in grant money. Virginia was supposed to receive more than $2.4 million this year.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been awarded a $198,740 grant to work with farmers in Virginia.

The funding announced Tuesday from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will help the Chesapeake Bay Foundation train more Virginia farmers on sustainable grazing management and other environmental-friendly practices. The objective of the partnership is to reduce the flow of pollutants and sediments into the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin says the 41 projects will reduce runoff of sediment as well as sewage, fertilizer and other pollution that feeds harmful algae blooms in the bay. The projects are located across the bay's six-state watershed, which runs from Virginia to New York and also includes West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is giving $173,400 to the Maryland Coastal Bays Program for students on the Eastern Shore to pursue environmental careers.

The funds are for educational, research, and career-related activities focusing on green infrastructure. That includes marine and science programs, internships and environmental stewardship programs. The EPA says the award increases EPA funding for the initiative to more than $600,000.